22-year-old gang member sentenced to 70 years to life in prison for two murders

KING CITY, Calif. – A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in a Salinas court, the Monterey County District Attorney's Office announced Monday.

Eliazar Arellano Ayron pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder while personally using a firearm to benefit the Sureno gang, prosecutors said.

On December 26, 2021, Ayron, a Sureno criminal street gang member from King City, drove to Sussex Way in King City where he and three others ambushed the victims as they exited their vehicle in front of their home. The victims were shot multiple times and killed.

King City street cameras captured the license plate number of the vehicle involved in the murders. A search warrant was served at the Salinas residence associated with the vehicle and one of the firearms used in the murders was recovered.

According to prosecutors, Ayron fled the jurisdiction after the murders, but a task force assembled and successfully captured him nine months later in a rural and remote area in Groveland, an unincorporated town in Tuolumne County.

Other Sureno gang members included Raul Lucas, who was sentenced to 58 years to life in prison in the same case in 2022, prosecutors said.

Ayron is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4 and faces an expected 70 years to life in state prison.

Ayron's conviction counts as two violations under California's three strikes laws.